Update: Bethesda has released the official game description and story. See below.

Original Story: Despite an accidental open mic live streaming the rehearsal for the conference Saturday night, the official announcement for Dishonored 2 still came as an exciting revelation for fans of the original.

Dishonored was a 2012 title featuring a Steampunk assassin, and focused on a player-driven story and gameplay. It won more than 100 "Game of the Year" and "Action-Adventure Game of the Year" awards from a variety of media outlets. Fans saw Dishonored as a true old-school stealth game, requiring patience and a tactical approach to missions, breathing a new life into a genre many were concerned was on its final legs.

Smith moved to France after the October 2012 release of Dishonored to work on the follow up with Arkane Lyons.

Dishonored 2 will feature a new protagonist, Emily Kaldwin, the child princess from the original Dishonored. It was revealed that you can also play as Corvo, the hero from the first game.

Dishonored 2 will be available on PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One in the spring of 2016.

Game Description

"Reprise your role as a supernatural assassin in Dishonored 2, the highly anticipated follow up to Arkane Studios' 2012 Game of the Year! Explore a world unlike any other as either Emily Kaldwin or Corvo Attano - both powerful assassins with their own unique set of supernatural abilities, weapons and unusual gadgets. Define your own playstyle by blending immersive first-person action, assassination, stealth, mobility and the game's brutal combat system. Combine the tools at your disposal to creatively eliminate your enemies whether you choose to pursue them unseen or ruthlessly attack head on with weapons drawn. Show no mercy and leave chaos in your wake or find a more subtle way to eliminate your targets. More than ever the choices you make will determine the outcome of each mission, and ultimately the game."

Story

"Dishonored 2 is set 15 years after the Lord Regent has been vanquished and the dreaded Rat Plague has passed into history. An otherworldly usurper has seized the throne from Empress Emily Kaldwin, leaving the fate of the Isles hanging in the balance. As either Emily Kaldwin or Corvo Attano, travel beyond the legendary streets of Dunwall to Karnaca - a once-dazzling coastal city that holds the key to restoring Emily to power. Armed with the mark of the Outsider and powerful new supernatural abilities, hunt down your enemies and forever alter the fate of the Empire."

Finally! And points to whoever called it that you'll play as Emily. I assumed they'd ditch Gristol altogether and go with a character and conflict we haven't seen. I'll be interested to see how they follow up on Corvo and Emily, though, and if they've gotten their story-telling together.

Oh neat a female protagonist...wait, why is that dweeby guy picking up the mask? I can't wait to see some actual gameplay for this thing! The first Dishonored was really, really good if short and this one looks like...well, it doesn't LOOK like anything yet but I like the gravity-cancelling hookshot thing that Just Cause 2 took from Spider-Man.

Hmm... That part at the end with Emily reminded me a LOT of The Darkness. I do like the sound of the Princess from the first game becoming a protagonist in the second, there's a pleasing sense of progression to it. The devs said they you can play both Corvo and her so I hope they make the most of this and give them both different powers and tricks.

Objectable:Will they make the "Good Guy" options not completely reprehensible this time around?

What's reprehensible about condemning people to slavery or to 3rd degree burns and banishment if they're asking for it? I don't think any of your targets in Dishonored 1 deserved mercy, but that's just me.

In regards to Dishonored 2 I have high hopes for this game. One of the few where I can watch the trailer and I'm confident I'll be able to do 95% of what I just saw even though this isn't in game footage.

Objectable:Will they make the "Good Guy" options not completely reprehensible this time around?

What's reprehensible about condemning people to slavery or to 3rd degree burns and banishment if they're asking for it? I don't think any of your targets in Dishonored 1 deserved mercy, but that's just me.

In regards to Dishonored 2 I have high hopes for this game. One of the few where I can watch the trailer and I'm confident I'll be able to do 95% of what I just saw even though this isn't in game footage.

When condeming a woman to be kidnapped, locked up, and potentially raped for the rest of her life is considered the "Good" option, the morals are off.

Objectable:Will they make the "Good Guy" options not completely reprehensible this time around?

What's reprehensible about condemning people to slavery or to 3rd degree burns and banishment if they're asking for it? I don't think any of your targets in Dishonored 1 deserved mercy, but that's just me.

In regards to Dishonored 2 I have high hopes for this game. One of the few where I can watch the trailer and I'm confident I'll be able to do 95% of what I just saw even though this isn't in game footage.

When condeming a woman to be kidnapped, locked up, and potentially raped for the rest of her life is considered the "Good" option, the morals are off.

It wasn't the good option, it was the non-lethal option. Morality is more than just "good and bad" you know, there are points in between. There wasn't really a right answer to how to deal with that woman, you just had to make the best choice you could.

Objectable:Will they make the "Good Guy" options not completely reprehensible this time around?

What's reprehensible about condemning people to slavery or to 3rd degree burns and banishment if they're asking for it? I don't think any of your targets in Dishonored 1 deserved mercy, but that's just me.

In regards to Dishonored 2 I have high hopes for this game. One of the few where I can watch the trailer and I'm confident I'll be able to do 95% of what I just saw even though this isn't in game footage.

When condeming a woman to be kidnapped, locked up, and potentially raped for the rest of her life is considered the "Good" option, the morals are off.

I don't think it was about good vs. evil with your choices. It was about whether or not you'd plunge the city into chaos by committing a massive string of murders or not.

Sweet! I would like another Dishonered game. Although it seems Emily is really unlucky. If the CGI trailer isn't being misleading it looks like they changing up the power set too. This reminds me, I still gotten around to playing The Brigmore Witches. Hopefully it will go on sale.

Objectable:Will they make the "Good Guy" options not completely reprehensible this time around?

I don't think there was meant to be a good guy option. I think it was more kill them or make them suffer first or for if you want to be more subtle about what you are doing. Letting them live was never meant to be a mercy.

So you now play the daughter of the Empress. Okay I wonder which ending they choose as canon and what happened to Corvo.Like I said before I don't think Dishonored really needed a sequel but hey if it is a s good as the first one I won't object.Just please don't start sequel baiting.

Ishigami:So you now play the daughter of the Empress. Okay I wonder which ending they choose as canon and what happened to Corvo.Like I said before I don't think Dishonored really needed a sequel but hey if it is a s good as the first one I won't object.Just please don't start sequel baiting.

I think the story and the characters were done but the world was begging for more tales to be told in it. I for one want to see more of the world, of The Ousider, of the mystery's that surround the past. I mean the world was just as important as the story and characters in the first.

Objectable:Will they make the "Good Guy" options not completely reprehensible this time around?

What's reprehensible about condemning people to slavery or to 3rd degree burns and banishment if they're asking for it? I don't think any of your targets in Dishonored 1 deserved mercy, but that's just me.

In regards to Dishonored 2 I have high hopes for this game. One of the few where I can watch the trailer and I'm confident I'll be able to do 95% of what I just saw even though this isn't in game footage.

When condeming a woman to be kidnapped, locked up, and potentially raped for the rest of her life is considered the "Good" option, the morals are off.

I know it is hard to notice with all children singing in the streets, unicorns prancing in the meadows and every single cutscene being basically a Disney -esque musical, but setting of Dishonored is meant to be bit on the grim side from the start.

I know, it was a big surprise for me too when I first realized it, but you need to read the subtle hints between the lines.

Seriously, don't we have enough games already where you play as the saintly saint of goody goodness, in a world so saccharine that you get diabetes after playing for two hours, can't we have at least few games where choices are less between black and white and instead more of gray and gray? Or is that just too much to ask?

My thoughts on the subject are that while the trailer is neat, I think the first game's was more powerful, I liked it better.

I'll also say that one of the reasons I never finished "Dishonored" was that I disliked the idea that the game gave you tons of fun toys to play with but then punished you with a bad ending for actually using them and killing people. I understand the "point" of this, but I thought it was pretty ridiculous and not all that fun from the sense of playing the game. If they keep that nonsense up I'll probably be skipping the second one.

To be fair though I confess that in these kinds of games I like to be able to use a variety of techniques and mix things up. Stealth is fun, but so is the option to walk in the front door and just kill everyone, of course for me the most fun is to use a combination of those methods. For example in Assassin's Creed my preferred M/O is to sneak into a position from which I can unleash a whirlwind of death, and then escape retribution using all my fancy avoidance techniques. Sometimes it's fun to hide in a location and watch patrols and pick everyone off silently and non-lethally, but other times it gets to be pretty boring, especially when even the best of these games have spotty detection mechanics. For example in playing Dishonored once I learned about what influenced the ending, I wound up spending most of my time sitting around and trying to perfectly time non-lethal takedowns on everything, I eventually did it, but it got very boring, and I was sitting here with literally dozens of ways to kill people and make life easier, and arguably more realistic, but the game wouldn't let me be an avenging steampunk specter of justice and still actually be a good guy in any way that matters. "Oh no, it's Corvo, this guy is deadly, better watch out for him" say the NPCs as I do little besides use knockout weapons and sleeper holds swords, guns, killer magic... nope, no fun toys for the good guys. :/

Shoggoth2588:Oh neat a female protagonist...wait, why is that dweeby guy picking up the mask? I can't wait to see some actual gameplay for this thing! The first Dishonored was really, really good if short and this one looks like...well, it doesn't LOOK like anything yet but I like the gravity-cancelling hookshot thing that Just Cause 2 took from Spider-Man.

Looks like we've jumped ~10 years into the future, Emily looks 19-20 years old now. Everything looks so shiny and advanced, I'm not sure whether I'll like it or not, but the insect spewing corpse does promise a bit of grit (which I still love).

Storywise this looks very promising. Once again we have people as pawns of The Outsider, dancing to his every whim and pushed from all sides by (hopefully) many interesting characters who have also been inspired or guided by him.Remember, The Outsider wishes to be entertained and see whether people can grow through adversity and rise as stronger beings.

"Think before you strike! If you kill me, you become the assassin he claimed you were, y-you become one of us!"Ultimately, no matter how successful you become, no matter what technological luxuries you have, you are still a pawn of The Outsider and trapped in his game. This is not only a plea for his life, but a warning to Emily that things aren't as simple as just killing the opposition.

Ignore the mad ramblings of the Sarkeesian/McIntosh, all they want is to fuel their own sick agenda. If Corvo wasn't important, no one would've felt anything as The Outsider picked up his past in the form of his mask. As presumptius as it may sound, we grew alongside him as he struggled to make things right and more importantly, as he made the right choices despite how much easier it would be to outright kill everyone in his way.

Corvo, alongside all the others who have received "gifts" from The Outsider, remains in the game until he dies.

If the diabolical duo had any actual interest in or care for games, they wouldn't spew this nonsense.

I can't believe I actually stayed up to watch Bethesda's show for this. It's a huge disappointment. Just a cinematic trailer? Nothing else? Really?First the Doom supposedly gameplay footage was disappointing (I can't believe that the crowd was so hyped for QTE takedowns), then the "we are gamer" talking part made me cringe really hard, the intro speech was so bad and then the only thing I was hoping for ended up being a bad cinematic trailer.

EDIT: Don't get me wrong. I'm still waiting for the game (although with the Bethesda online platform, I might not get it), just that the reveal was a huge letdown.

Ok, that was pretty sweet. I hope she isn't a silent protagonist like Corvo was. Considering she is the Empress, I'd like to see her have some actual dialogue, and deal with things like running the country too.

I'll be really interested to see how the story fills in the gap from the end of the last game. Emily became Empress, Corvo her bodyguard. We can play as either, which means that the Outsider must have visited Emily at some point. I like the look of the new powers, and even tho the trailer is rendered, she is using a crossbow AND magic at the same time. Maybe they stopped forcing the sword in the main hand, one of my biggest gripes about the original.

The first one was a good game, but not great. I do enjoy stealth games tho and will be most interested to see how this one turns out.

Happyninja42:Considering she is the Empress, I'd like to see her have some actual dialogue, and deal with things like running the country too.

The Outsider's narration seemed to imply she was somehow ousted or cast down from her position ("dishonored", if you will)...

His words are "An empire at your feet and you've lost it all. Did you really deserve any of it? More important: What would you do to get it back?".

Ah, I totally wasn't paying attention to what he said there. I was more focused on trying to figure out if the protagonist was male/female to be honest. I couldn't tell. There are some very slim figured men in the Dishonored-verse, so until they did the reveal, her gender was ambiguous. That's kind of cool I guess, that she's lost her throne, but I dunno, I kind of liked the idea of her doing that while still in power.

Then again, the idea that she, even having been dishonored and dethroned, still decides to defend her kingdom, but does it more directly now, does have a strong appeal to me personally. We'll see how the plot goes, but I'm still highly interested. xD I loved the first game, and am happy they brought about a sequel.

Smilomaniac:Looks like we've jumped ~10 years into the future, Emily looks 19-20 years old now. Everything looks so shiny and advanced, I'm not sure whether I'll like it or not, but the insect spewing corpse does promise a bit of grit (which I still love).

Storywise this looks very promising. Once again we have people as pawns of The Outsider, dancing to his every whim and pushed from all sides by (hopefully) many interesting characters who have also been inspired or guided by him.Remember, The Outsider wishes to be entertained and see whether people can grow through adversity and rise as stronger beings.

"Think before you strike! If you kill me, you become the assassin he claimed you were, y-you become one of us!"Ultimately, no matter how successful you become, no matter what technological luxuries you have, you are still a pawn of The Outsider and trapped in his game. This is not only a plea for his life, but a warning to Emily that things aren't as simple as just killing the opposition.

Ignore the mad ramblings of the Sarkeesian/McIntosh, all they want is to fuel their own sick agenda. If Corvo wasn't important, no one would've felt anything as The Outsider picked up his past in the form of his mask. As presumptius as it may sound, we grew alongside him as he struggled to make things right and more importantly, as he made the right choices despite how much easier it would be to outright kill everyone in his way.

Corvo, alongside all the others who have received "gifts" from The Outsider, remains in the game until he dies.

If the diabolical duo had any actual interest in or care for games, they wouldn't spew this nonsense.

I'm curious if Corvo's involvement will be like Daud's in the first game. That he will simply have a walk on role at a point in the story, and whether he was good/bad will depend on your save file. And whether or not you have to fight him or not depends on how Emily handles herself in DH 2. If you go Good Emily, he doesn't try and stop her from "Going Bad". Or something like that.

Do we get a really stylish grim-dark cover of a well known sea-shantie/y like last time? That was the high point for me at least. It's a sequel so you have to follow the sequel rules that bigger is better, therefor an album or a fully realised live band in a bar within the game would do just fine. Thank me later.

Happyninja42:I'm curious if Corvo's involvement will be like Daud's in the first game. That he will simply have a walk on role at a point in the story, and whether he was good/bad will depend on your save file. And whether or not you have to fight him or not depends on how Emily handles herself in DH 2. If you go Good Emily, he doesn't try and stop her from "Going Bad". Or something like that.

He's a playable character apparently. Whether the whole game can be played as him or just certain levels remains to be seen.

Objectable:Will they make the "Good Guy" options not completely reprehensible this time around?

What's reprehensible about condemning people to slavery or to 3rd degree burns and banishment if they're asking for it? I don't think any of your targets in Dishonored 1 deserved mercy, but that's just me.

In regards to Dishonored 2 I have high hopes for this game. One of the few where I can watch the trailer and I'm confident I'll be able to do 95% of what I just saw even though this isn't in game footage.

When condeming a woman to be kidnapped, locked up, and potentially raped for the rest of her life is considered the "Good" option, the morals are off.

it's not "good", it's non-lethalyou're supposed to level what's best for you vs what's most effectivedo you kill the regent or do you banish him and destroy his reputation?do you kill that woman or do you send her off to live in slavery?the fact that those options are so reprehensible is the point of itby all means, the "good guy" option is to kill them

Happyninja42:I'm curious if Corvo's involvement will be like Daud's in the first game. That he will simply have a walk on role at a point in the story, and whether he was good/bad will depend on your save file. And whether or not you have to fight him or not depends on how Emily handles herself in DH 2. If you go Good Emily, he doesn't try and stop her from "Going Bad". Or something like that.

He's a playable character apparently. Whether the whole game can be played as him or just certain levels remains to be seen.

Meh, I kind of liked the idea of him no longer being a character, and it moving on to a new vessel of the Dark One. Ah well. I'm a sucker for legacy stories, and it's hard to be a legacy story, if the original person is still running around doing stuff.

Really excited for this, the first game has its pro and cons but still it's good news that they are developing a sequel. I don't know, maybe I like to play sometimes as a female character(without any weird, pervert stuff)